207 - Manstein Goes Great War Style - WW2 - August 13, 1943 

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I'm amazed that the egos of Patton and Montgomery didn't sink Sicily into the Mediterranean.

"I'm gonna roll with the Joint Chiefs!" - Indy Neidell, 2022

By the way: the crying german boy soldier on this episode's title image is Volker Lechtenbrink. The image is actually a painted copy of a screenshot from the German antiwar movie "Die Brücke" from 1959.

I loved the Albert Speer quote, and I think it really applies today to the whole "Death of Expertise" thing we hear about. People with expertise in anything do not understand the depth of knowledge on a subject the expertise really represents.

It really took another soldier that was fighting in Sicily at this time to push for the government to put more work in to helping soldiers with "battle fatigue" and probably the only one they would listen to even in the mid to late 1960s. Audie Murphy was one no one wanted to question his courage and suffered PTSD. Probably something everyone should take a moment to think about as these battles happen.

My grandma-in-law's brother - he was 16 then - was taken to build German defenses at Pantherstellung near Staraya Rusa, close to Novgorod. The conditions there were harsh, the men were malnourished and his family was to go several dozen kilometers by foot to bring food, mostly dried bread. There was a way out, though: refugees, who lived in the village, were proposing themselves to take place of the workers, asking for food for their families in return. The guy who took the place of gruncle-in-law was even smarter. He concealed his age, and after a few days of work went to Germans and shown his papers stating that he was too old. Interestingly, the Germans kept the rules, and soon he was back in the village. The gruncle, as he got back home, was extremely exhausted. The family initially had to feed him from the spoon. But it was clear that, after he gets better, he'd be either coerced to work on fortifications again, or sent as labor force to Germany - actually, most of the people sent to "Germany", and those included two of his uncles, ended up in Latvia, and the gruncle's uncles stayed there for the rest of their lives. So, the gruncle ran into the forest to join the partisans. He has seen the end of the war in Berlin. Many years later, the grandma-in-law visited the remains of those German positions. "They were truly impressive", - she told, "trunks of century-old oaks laid in three rows. And yet, they were penetrated."

The summarised character of Adolf Hilter at the end was magnificent.

Wow Indy, that is in my opinion the most straightforward negative review of Hitler's military incompetence so far and I appreciate it. Here's to more of your honest opinion moving forward! Vielen Dank von diese timeghost Army member!

The Speer quote about Hitler reminds me of a biography I read about Marconi's invention and development of radio. Marconi succeeded because he was a self-taught outsider who didn't understand what he was doing was "impossible" yet once he had achieved his breakthrough his efforts to improve and fine-tuning the invention were hindered by his scientific ignorance.

Axis Evacuation of Sicily While these desperate battles were going on, Oberst Ernst-Günther Baade was overseeing an extremely well-planned evacuation operation. He’d been given considerable authority as Kommandant, Straits of Messina. In fact, he had been given carte blanche to gather together as many guns and men as he could, and to take command of a special ad hoc force that included army, navy and air force troops. Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine flak batteries came under his command, including more than seventeen hundred naval gunners, as did a number of highly competent naval commanders - among them Fregattenkapitän Gustav von Liebenstein, commander of the 2. Landung Division. It certainly helped that Baade had been appointed well in advance of the evacuation: even by 1 August, he and von Liebenstein had amassed some 140 vessels of all kinds, including 76 motor boats, 33 naval barges, 7 MFPs - 163-foot-long beaching craft - 13 further smaller landing craft and 12 Siebel ferries, each of which was a kind of double-ended motorized raft that could carry 450 men or ten loaded trucks. Back in the 1930s, Nazi Germany had very sensibly set up the world’s first combined services general staff, the OKW; but Hitler had then used it more as his mouthpiece than for its proper purpose of tri-service planning. Rarely, in fact, had there been much close cooperation between the three arms of the Wehrmacht, even during the glory years of the Blitzkrieg when the Luftwaffe had been spearheading great panzer thrusts on the ground. For the sole and particular purpose of Operation LEHRGANG, however, Baade had been given the authority to create a unified command; and with this, and with von Liebenstein’s cooperation, he had very effectively and efficiently set up new systems for roll-on, roll-off loading and unloading, ensuring that all crews were thoroughly trained in such procedures, all while frequently changing the embarkation and disembarkation points so as not to give the Allied air forces any firm targets. Baade had also amassed a staggering 333 guns either side of the Straits, making them one of the most heavily fortified stretches of coastline anywhere in the world. He had worked out, too, a very clear and efficient system of four distinct routes that would be used, with two more developed as back-up if necessary. The first route across the Straits would begin at the northernmost tip of the island, where 15. Panzer Grenadier Division were to embark. The second route, a little to the south, would be for 29. Panzer Granedier Division. The third route, a little longer, began just on the northern edge of Messina and would take XIV Panzer Korps headquarters, while the fourth route, starting close by and also a little to the north of the town, would ferry the HG Division, including the 1. Fallschirmjäger Division under Schmalz. Traffic controllers and engineers were assigned to each route, while assembly points were linked to ferry sites by telephone so that there would be no traffic build-up on the water’s edge as a juicy target for Allied air forces. Each assembly area was also camouflaged. Hube gave clear instructions to both Baade and his divisional commanders. No troops would be ferried across the straits by day, only by night. Weapons and equipment, however, could cross by day at Baade’s discretion, with anti-tank weapons, artillery and assault guns taking priority, in that order. Discipline was to be maintained at all times, and any sign of panic was to be dealt with immediately and with the severest measures - offenders were to be shot or clubbed to death. Hube, in turn, had been getting a series of messages from Hitler, including one in which he insisted Hube should not tell his men of the evacuation plans until they reached the crossing points. This Hube sensibly ignored, aware that many of his men feared a second Tunisgrad. He wasn’t ready to pull the plug on Sicily yet, but by the start of the second week of August, plans for LEHRGANG looked to be in good fettle. Baade and von Liebenstein had done well. Nothing, it seemed, had been left to chance. General Guzzoni had evacuated his surviving troops ahead of XIV Panzer Korps; typically, Italian and German plans were completely different, entirely independent and carried out without any cooperation whatsoever. The Italians were unable to lift much heavy equipment but, starting on 3 August, and using mainly two train ferries, began taking troops across the straits south of Messina straight away. Guzzoni finally left Sicily on 10 August; von Senger, his work done, had left two days earlier.The Allies were aware the Axis were preparing to evacuate, and on 3 August Alexander signalled both Admiral Cunningham and Air Chief Marshal Tedder, warning them the exodus might begin any day. ‘We must be in a position to take immediate advantage of such a situation,’ he wrote, ‘but using full weight of Navy and Air Power. You have no doubt co-ordinated plans to meet this contingency.’ As it happened, they hadn’t; but they did confer after receiving Alex’s signal. The Allied air forces had already been hammering Messina and the straits and continued to do so, but the geography was in the Axis’ favour. At their narrowest, the straits were a little over a mile wide, and most of Baade’s routes were 3-5 miles end to end, which was no great distance at all. It was a very confined space, closed in further by steep cliffs on either side. Added to these constraints was the mass of the more than three hundred guns assembled there in defence, which made hitting shipping very difficult indeed. Bombers were pounding the straits day and night - some 532 aircraft struck Messina in the first week of August alone - but mostly from height. Over 170 fighter-bombers dive-bombed Messina and the straits, but the intensity of flak made dive- bombing the narrows a lethal proposition with small chance of much reward. Even at a few thousand feet a barge looked tiny; from 20,000 feet, it looked like a pin-prick. Despite these difficulties, on 5 August alone two merchant ships, one of Baade’s precious Siebel ferries and twenty-one barges were destroyed by air power. Mary Coningham, one of the most aggressive of Allied air commanders, feared there was little that could be done to prevent an evacuation. ‘The difficulty of operating naval surface forces in the narrow part of the strait’, he wrote to Broadhurst on 4 August, ‘is obvious and I do not see how we can hope for the same proportion of success as at Cap Bon.’ For his part, Admiral Cunningham , Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet commander sent up motor torpedo boats - MTBs - on fast, in-and-out raids, but there was not the remotest chance of warships successfully venturing into such heavily defended narrows, especially not with a follow-up invasion of mainland Italy to come in which every vessel in the Mediterranean would be needed. ‘A ship’s a fool to fight a fort,’ Nelson had once said, and - despite having himself attacked Copenhagen from the sea - he had a point. Warships passing a very heavily defended coastline in front of more than three hundred guns was simply not an option, especially not along straits as narrow as those of Messina. Admiral Cunningham had been a destroyer captain during Dardanelles Campaign in 1915 nd had seen what shore guns and fortress batteries could do to ships Sicily 1943 - James Holland

Cunningham has plenty of experience of the loses a fleet can suffer in such confined waters off Greece and Crete while he was covering the evacuations there. I can well understand his feeling that Germany can replace a battalion more easily than he can replace a cruiser and his wish to keep all his big guns to cover later landings. Those 15 inch guns are the heaviest artillery the army can use in range of the coast.

"Sorry Bart. You can push them out of a plane. You can march them off a cliff. You can send them off to die on some God forsaken rock. But for some reason, you can't slap them." - Abe Simpson

Absolutely love that end quote by Albert Speer. I've also always been intrigued by the Patton slapping incident. According to his diary the incident was the reason he wasn't given command of the First Army for D-day. Instead going to his junior Omar Bradley. I'm curious if Eisenhower included that in his decision-making.

Speer playing the 'madman Hitler' card, absolving himself and others from as much responsibility as possible.

My dad was a surgeon in the 93rd Evacuation Hospital. He had no use for Patton, whose visits to the hospital were regarded as a pain in the neck. The medical staff had work to do and visit by top brass was a distraction.

This is another great episode covering the complex, concurrent war activities across the globe. Thank you to the TGH team.

Ok, so i had always heard the story of the slap as "patton slapped a soldier and was kinda removed from combat command for like a year" the explanation of the slap never really went beyond "patient was shell shocked" PULLING OUT HIS GUN? LIKE WTF GEORGE. As a nurse i'd be fucking screaming at the general there. fuck that dude. get the hell away from my patient.

That letter from Eisenhower to Patton. Wow

A rather curious thing to note this week on August 8 1943 is that the United States Army will ban the photo taking of all beach resorts in the Atlantic Ocean, and this even included painting or sketching beach scenes. This was justified as necessary for the defence of the eastern United States. Violators might be not allowed from visiting the beaches, or even be charged in a military court for violating regulations.

Steiner is preparing for his counter attack right about now too.

Patton's slapping incident can't be understood without understanding Patton's WWI incident: He totally broke down under German artillery fire -- for at least a FULL DAY. Yeah, the great man... "couldn't take the shelling anymore." He was not alone in that hell hole. His sole companion ended up being on the wrong side of Patton -- during the Bonus protest. (Great Depression) Now you can see that Patton was actually punishing PATTON -- as the target of his rage was his own prior (shaming) behavior -- that only one other ever witnessed. As ever, he saw in another that which was his own flaw/ fault. His internal shame caused him to totally lose it -- one more time. You can see high levels of narcissism in Patton, time and time, again -- but never more than his rage at his own shame. As for 1945 and his son-in-law -- if Patton had sent an entire Combat Command from any of his tank divisions -- the project would've worked beautifully. It was only after the Krauts realized that the raid was NOT by a Combat Command that the tank school instructors were able to rally and counter-attack. Previously, the Krauts were running around with their heads in a twist. After all, the war was lost, and 3rd Army was never turned back. The Americans at all times prior, advanced with overwhelming strength. This queer dash was quite the oddity. MacArthur did not surround himself with dolts. Instead, he stole all of his staffer's best ideas and claimed them as his own. This tic was so extreme that it became his policy. He was to be the face of the American armed forces in his theater. Period. In this, at least MacArthur adopted winning ideas -- rather immediately. He proved to be quite the showman. One trait: a photographic memory. He could, like certain Hollywood stars, memorize a speech after a SINGLE read -- and then deliver it like Ronald Reagan. ( The latter, BTW, had the same trait. Other famous ones: Jack Lord, Robert Mitchum. ) He REALLY ticked off George Marshall, for he had stunk up Eisenhower's 'jacket' something awful. MacArthur is the sole reason why Ike reported to Washington as a mere Lt. Col. Within days he was a major general... deciding the strategic flow of he war against the Axis. (February '42) Of Ike: "He's the best clerk I ever had" or words equivalent.

That's all very interesting but... are you wearing a vest over a vest?

It is stunning how long the Soviets kept hammering away in the Kuban, making no useful progress.

Can we just take a minute to appreciate how professional these videos are.

The description by Albert Speer applies so well to several modern leaders...

Great episode like always Indy! Funny that Manstein is adopting a Great War style defense considering Hitler expected this war to be like the Great War when it broke out in 1939.

In August 1943 in occupied France, prime minister Pierre Laval refuses any additional dispatch of French workers to Germany. In addition, he also refuses the German request to denaturalize the 20,000 Jews naturalized French since 1927. The French police no longer take part in roundups. A total of about 95,000 Jews were deported from France, including about 30,000 with the collaboration of the French state and its police.

Speer's description for H at the end is one of the most brilliant descriptions of him that I have ever read or heard.

Big hugs to you too Indy, for a better part of the last decade you've been part of my life and it's been a pleasure (not that I'm going anywhere)

*"Tommorow the war will end and leaders shake hands, but that mother is still waiting for his son to come home."* To all soldiers no matter wich side you're in THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

"Professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs."

One major trend I'm watching is the dramatic improvement in the Allied armies. The amphibious landing behind German lines really shows how the Germans' tactical edge is rapidly disappearing. It also shows how diverting units from Kursk to Italy really didn't strengthen the Axis position in Italy all that much.

'Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.' ~ Sun Tzu

A sidenote this week on August 7 1943 is that a rescue operation on Benito Mussolini is cancelled at the last moment as Otto Skorzeny received information that Mussolini had been moved hours earlier from his alleged holding location at La Spezia in Italy. However, this intel was flawed at Mussolini was never at La Spezia and in fact had been transferred out of the island of Ponza through a destroyer.

One of the top ten opening calls on this channel lol! I love you guys!

I love how the intro phone calls started pretty cryptic and subtle and now they are just “what is he smoking…. Same thing as Hitler” ha love this series

Eighth Army Advance on Straits of Messina NOW THAT CATANIA AND Misterbianco had fallen, 5th and 50th British Divisions were advancing side-by-side in General Dempsey’s 13th British Corps as the Germans fell back towards the Tortorici Line. It was scrappy, difficult fighting, in which the advancing troops were being squeezed down roads that either hugged the coast or wound their way through the foothills of Etna. With so little room for manoeuvre, everyone felt cramped. David Fenner, for one, found the experience deeply unpleasant. The 50th British Division, especially, was hemmed in along the coast, which meant brigades moving up one at a time and, invariably, battalions advancing one at a time. Companies, taking it in turns to lead, would push ahead cautiously, waiting for the inevitable ambush. The officers, especially, were taking a hammering. ‘The platoon officer would be with the point section,’ noted Fenner, ‘the company commander with the lead platoon. The ambush would get the lot. Machine-guns, mortars and 88mm guns were all used.’ There would also be mines, booby-traps and snipers. The Germans were proving to be masters of the slow retreat, not least because they were disciplined enough to hold ground until the last. Throughout the 7th fierce fighting had continued in the Etna foothills. It was turning into a bloody and violent business, and 13th British Corps were in danger of becoming bogged down. This was the day when 13th Brigade, who had been in transit through wrecked and deserted towns, passing burnt-out British armoured cars and a host of other battle debris, arrived at the front, having been hurriedly brought forward into the fold of 5th Division. Captain David Cole and the 2nd Skins reached Pedara that evening with instructions to attack and capture three volcanic hills known as Tremonti a couple of miles north of the town the following day, Sunday, 8 August. These conical pimples had emerged back in 1669 during one of Etna’s worst eruptions and looked beautifully green compared with the bleached central plains and mountains. All around, the land was considerably more verdant here, with patches of bushes, undergrowth and plentiful trees. The volcanic hills themselves were steeply terraced; spreading away from them on the slopes running down to Pedara were vineyards and a maze of paths, while the road running towards them was, like most in the area, lined with stone walls. After the bare, wide-open Dittaino valley, this was dramatically close country. Supported by the Canadian Tank Brigade, artillery and mortars, the infantry once again had to take the leap of faith and venture forward - and no sooner had they all raised their heads than German machine guns opened up, tracer bullets whipping past and a cluster of mortar bombs crashing among them. Captain Cole and his wiring party were following behind D Company, and now quickly hurried forward to join D Company HQ and hastily install a field telephone. ‘There we were able,’ wrote Cole, ‘from behind a stone wall, to observe with the occasional distraction of random bullets zipping past us, the beginning of the attack.’ Forward went the D Company men, ducking, dodging, occasionally sprinting then diving, until they reached the foot of the Tremonti - where they ground to a halt. British mortars now drenched the three hills, while the heavy Vickers of the 7th Cheshire Machine-Gun Battalion continued to pour in relentless fire and the Shermans banged off shell after shell. The cacophony was deafening, the hills shrouded in swirling smoke and debris and dust - and then the infantry began climbing up the first of them, terrace by terrace. Just at the point where they were about to crest and take the summit, the Germans counter-attacked in time-honoured fashion. Cole watched it all open- mouthed. ‘With the two sides so closely intermingled, there was nothing we could do to help,’ he wrote. ‘A bloody scrap followed in which we saw our own men falling, as well as theirs, amidst the sunlit smoke drifting through the undergrowth.’ Grenades were hurling through the air, shots ringing out along with shouts and screams, and Lieutenant Roy Hingston’s platoon were falling back. By the time they reached the bottom again, he had just nine men left from the thirty or so who had begun the attack. Clearly, it was going to take more than a single company to capture Tremonti; but this would involve bringing up more men, more fire support, more ammunition - and so would take more time. After consulting with brigade HQ, it was decided to try again the following morning at dawn, with two battalions attacking. In the meantime, fighting patrols would be sent up the forward slopes of Tremonti to keep the enemy both on his toes and awake. At first light on Monday, 9 August, the 2nd Inniskillings attacked again, this time with A Company in the lead and the rest of the battalion following behind. Despite some initially heavy MG fire, their objectives were quickly taken as the enemy scurried away and disappeared down the slopes, mortars and bursts of machine-gun fire following them. A number of dead were found, both their own and the enemy’s. That evening, after dealing with prisoners, burying the dead and gathering themselves back together, the brigade moved out, heading forward again into Trecastagni and on to the road that led straight to Messina. From there, the next day, Tuesday, 10 August, they moved on once more, to the town of Fleri. This was still some 50 miles from the Straits, but the 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers had now fought their last in Sicily. News reached them on the 11th that they were being pulled back to a rest area near Paterno, to fatten them up for the next big battle - the invasion of Italy itself. Sicily 1944 - James Holland

Magnificent work TimeGhost! The best 20 minutes RU-vid has to offer!

Another fantastic piece of work here. Thanks to all involved.

great stuff as always.......Bravo.....

Oh no, will Manstein try to launch an offensive on the Isonzo River?

Impossible not to subscribe to this channel after experiencing this pulsating, relentlessly researched, tour de force of the living history style. I only wish I'd discovered it long ago. Pretty breathtakingly good!

Another great episode!! This RU-vid channel will be used as a basis for study many decades in the future the same way it is now

The Speer quote about Hitler's military downfall was brilliant. Thanks for another great show. That quote by the way can be found in Albert Speer's, 'Inside The Third Reich,' first paragraph of Chapter 17.

At least the Kaiser knew not to override his generals Hindenberg and Ludendorff's expertise, and didn't as a result end up crashing and burning as spectacularly as Hitler who lost his life

Wow, the Albert Speer diary quote was fascinating! That alone makes this episode great!

Quoting Albert Speer, post-war, of course: "The tendency to wild decisions had long been his forte, now it speeded his downfall."

Hi Indy Another awesome week. Finally axis losing. What speer told is correct. Thanks for the video.

To be fair, Hitler was a master at running messages from command post, to command post. But still, as we've seen remarked, "The corporal is playing general again."

You do this so well. A master class in insight.

Thanks as ever for your coverage.

I remeber reading about the international reaction to the Patton incidents. Apparently Russia and Germany especially were dumbfounded. German officers were amazed that it was allowed to be covered by the press, and at the the reaction to it was so negative. I think at that point there has been around 20,000 executions of Germany's own personnel. Obviously even more for Russia. The fact that the allies most effective and feared general could be affected by something so "trivial" was absolutely extraordinary to them. It also really highlights the contrast in values. I'll have to dig up the book I read this in, I dont like referencing without a source.

Hey Indy and Team. Love your work! I know this series still has a lot of time left, but if you do another week by week series I think the Napoleonic Wars could be a cool subject. Maybe get Sabaton on the phone and cover the Great Northern War? Hope you all have a wonderful day!

for the past 3years, each week, has a ~15min of stress and anxiety free moment while I watch your show. Thank you.

Thanks for this episode. I always wondered how they managed to pull of that evacuation of Sicilly. And the Albert Speer quote is quite something. I never heard it this well condenced. Reminds me of the apparents inability of modern day politicians in dictatorships and democracys alike to understand that theire opposit number in the other systems thinks differently and communicates as well as acts differently.

Indy, I don't know if you are aware but the many psychologists want to drop the "D" from PTSD, arguing that suffering from PTS is not a disorder, it is a stress related injury.

I'm currently reading Speer's memoirs and it's recommended as his perspective is very distinct, both from intelligence and background.

Another great episode Indy & team.

Great 👍 Episode. I have to watch this again.

18:20 A non chess player playing a serious chess player. Initially the non player may have some success making obscure and random moves. The serious player will eventually figure out their opponent isn’t novel, it is that just don’t know why they are doing and turn the table and win

Amatuerish or not, Hitler will have the last laugh once he sets up his Panther Stellung because no way will the USSR be willing to take the losses necessary to drive Germany from Eastern Europe!

Excellent stuff bro

Oooo Martin Gilbert Nice !! Amazing video

Looks like there's some funky detailing going on in this tie, but kind of hard to tell. Stealthy. 3/5

thumbnail 207 ist a colourised image from actor Volker Lechtenbrink. German movie „die Brücke“ 1959

Indy has such a professional charismatic delivery. It almost seemed like he had every last word of that passage from Speer's 'Inside The Third Reich' memorized

Thanks for the video.

The Kuban pocket seems more and more like a meatgrinder for the Soviets. I had no idea it held so long and so many died there.

On a note on the Manhattan project this episode shows the exact reason why later on the US does not share it's nuclear secrets with Britain that so many British people tend to get a bit upset about. Winston Churchill who was very familiar with American law and how it worked knew the agreement he was making was between his own government being the Prime Minister but just the American Presidents administration. That deal would thus only be in place with the administration of FDR since the President in the US does not make laws. The US President signs bills passed to him by the US Congress and Senate into law or he can veto the bill. So after the war was over when the US Congress had seen the power of the atomic bombs and seen how much was spent on the Manhattan project as well as the delivery system for the bomb (the bombers were even more expensive construction projects for the B-29 and B-50 Superfortress) so the US Congress rightly wanted to keep such technology a secret and passed Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Then British PM Clement Attlee thought this was unfair but it was explained to him by the Truman administration that the deal made was between FDR and Churchill not the US government and after the passing of the Atomic Energy Act sharing such information was out of Truman's hands. That law would later be amended so that the US could share nuclear secrets with VERY close allies like the British. But this situation is the exact situation Iran put itself in with the nuclear deal it made . The US Congress sent Iran an open letter telling them what they were signing with the President was just a deal they were making with the current President and any future President that wants to go along with the treaty could if they wanted to but they were warned Iran that if a GOP member became President in the next election that it was likely the nuclear deal agreed to between the current President and Iran would be voided. Because again, US Presidents didn't make laws, they can propose them and sign bills into law but the US Congress and Senate vote on what becomes a law. The same thing happened with the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson came-up with the idea but he could not get the Senate controlled by the GOP at the time to agree for the US to join the League of Nations.

Forte, as used at the end here, is one syllable. It comes from the French word that referred to the stronger lower third of a sword, as opposed to the more flexible outer third, the foible. The Italian forte is two syllables and means loud.

The battle between that grey inner vest and the brown outer vest (it's buttoned on OMG!) will go down in fashion history! That combo just slapped my eyes! I kid because I love.

Great episode! Indy always enlightens! We in the USA often forget just what a huge part the Soviet Union played in the defeat of Nazi Germany. Had not Hitler invaded Soviet territory, it would have been incredibly difficult to defeat fortress Europe. Particularly since it was the USA that was doing the lion's share of checking the Japanese in the Pacific, tying down large amounts of men and materiel.

German Army in East is not holding initiative anymore , the initiative (in strategic sense) is at the hands of Red Army now and with superior quantitity and even some quality aspects , they are determining the strategic moves and tempo in Eastern Front and now it is Germans reacting here and there trying to counter act Red Army actions desperately with fewer and diminishing resources. Unless some game changer in strategic sense occurs , numbers and attrition along with limits / finity of space to retreat , would determine everything in this front. Manstein is in huge error since Soviet Union has larger resources and STAVKA learned and still learning how to use those resources more and more efficiently to retake lost territory while Germans with fewer resources , suffering casaulties they could not replace nor afford to lose.

As a massive fan of History. This is all great. Thanks for doing it.

That scene in the movie ,Patton , where he slapped and almost shot a solidet was spot on then.

That might’ve been the funniest phone call intro so far. “What has he been smoking? Same thing as Hitler I guess!!” Hahaha!!

Manstein hoped for repeat of WWI: Russian regime exhausts itself and makes a separate peace with Germany. Overlooks robustness of Stalinist regime, as well as volume of US aid supporting Soviet war effort. But, attrition followed by separate peace might still have been best strategy available to the Nazi regime. Had Hitler not lost 500,000 men, plus equipment, in North Africa and Stalingrad, who knows? But then Hitler would not have been Hitler.

Indeed Indy you do it darn well.

At this point, Indy could be ordering take-out on the phone at the episodes start, and I will still think it would be another twist in his labriynth like way of telling the week as it unfolds. Love the work and detail you put into it.

every time someone comes up with some great war defensive strategy, it breathes new life into Konrad

Etna Battles (3) Adrano - Bronte , outflanking Mount Etna On 4 August, Montgomery issued new instructions to Eighth Army. 30th Corps was to continue its drive towards Adrano and then head off up the left, western side of Etna to Bronte, a town and ducal fiefdom that in 1799 had been gifted to Admiral Nelson by Ferdinand III, monarch of what had then been the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. History was never far away in Sicily, not that most of the men fighting there had much opportunity or inclination to appreciate it. With plans for the invasion of mainland Italy now under way, Monty also had to start withdrawing troops in preparation for that next phase of the war in the Mediterranean. The Canadians were to be pulled out of the line once Adrano had fallen, 5th Division after the fall of Belpasso. In any event, the narrowing of the north-east of the island meant that only limited numbers of troops could make their way through the network of tiny mountain roads. General Oliver Leese , 30th Corps commander now gave the 78th British Battleaxe Division a particularly brutal assignment. From Centuripe, they were to get across the River Salso down the far side of the mountain, cross the Simeto the next night, then attack Adrano the night after that, with the 51st Highlanders protecting their right flank and the Canadians their left. For Peter Pettit and the gunners of 17th Field Artillery, this was a truly punishing schedule, especially coming on the back of the Centuripe battle - not to mention that they’d been on the go ever since their arrival. First, on 4 August, Pettit had to work out how they were going to get down from the town; this meant a recce on foot with the second-in-command from the 57th Field Artillery. The only possible route for all their guns, Quads and limbers was by the winding road, which was in full view of the enemy, now on the slopes overlooking the Simeto valley below Adrano. Halfway down, a large part of the road had been destroyed, but it was too dangerous for the sappers to repair in daylight; it would have to wait until dark. Further beyond the break in the road were almond and orange groves. ‘No cover worth the name for vehicles,’ noted Pettit. Later, at dusk, he went down again with the battery recce parties and showed them where he reckoned they should deploy the gun. That night, they dumped 6,000 rounds of ammo; then the convoy of thirty Quads and guns rumbled down, inched over a diversion round the blown bit of road and finally got in position for first light. Pettit, having snatched two and a half hours’ sleep, then hurried around trying to get the guns into place and camouflaged as much as possible before the sun began to rise far enough to show their every movement. By this time, he was both hot and exhausted. Three lorries were hit by enemy shelling and exploded as a further convoy of sixty came down the road. The infantry attack across the Simeto went off that night as planned; then, after Pettit’s men had finished firing, they had to pack up and get moving again. ‘We could not afford to have the column on the road at daylight or there really would be trouble,’ he noted, breathlessly. ‘Behind the ammo lorries were a Brigade HQ and the transport of two or more battalions who had to get down and through the river at the bottom in darkness.’ Somehow, the long convoys managed to push on over the Simeto. The enemy had pulled back again so there was no contact, although plenty of shelling. It was now Friday, 6 August, and the division was to attack Adrano that night. Yet again the guns were deployed ready for firing early in the morning. They shelled the town all morning while Pettit watched squadrons of fighter-bombers circling and dive-bombing enemy positions around Adrano. ‘The whole town seems to jump up in smoke and dust and nothing is seen but the huge dust cloud for some minutes,’ he jotted.13 ‘The amazing thing is that when it clears away, the whole town is still there and looks from this distance just the same as before.’ In the afternoon, word reached the gunners that the recce regiment ahead were already in Adrano, so they swivelled the guns and began pounding Bronte instead. Later, it then turned out the recce regiment wasn’t in Adrano after all, and so they changed the fire plan once again. Then Pettit was summoned by an officious intelligence officer to the division HQRA - the artillery headquarters. Off he went on what was a shockingly difficult drive in the dark. Getting back at 9.20 p.m., he was immediately plunged into preparations for the infantry attack on Adrano - zero hour midnight. Fire plans were as follows: concentrated fire for 170 minutes before the attack, then 180 minutes to accompany the infantry, moving their aim forward 100 yards every five minutes. The medium guns - the 5.5-inch - would also fire for 195 minutes on the back of the town from midnight. Incredibly, the Battleaxe Division had managed to keep to Leese’s timetable. By the morning of Saturday, 7 August, the infantry were in Adrano, their objective taken, and the gunners were packing up, loading up and moving out once again - straight into a log-jam as traffic from Regalbuto converged with their own convoys. They had to be ready to provide fire support just as soon as possible, although this was easier said than done. ‘Thick orange groves, walls, narrow gates and lava all over the area made it very difficult to find gun positions,’ Pettit acknowledged, ‘but we did after much head-scratching.’ Craters in the road hardly helped, and the maps they’d been issued with didn’t seem to bear much relation to the reality on the ground. Supper that night was eaten on the go, by heating up a tin of M&V - meat and veg - in his Humber’s radiator, where it fitted neatly if they took out the filter. The next day, Sunday 8 August, Pettit and his gunners passed through Adrano on their way up to Bronte, part of the western thrust of 30th Corps around the edge of Etna. ‘Adrano is a sort of Guernica,’ he noted, ‘bodies still on the pavements, ruins everywhere and they had to use bulldozers to clear a way through for wheels.’ That a bulldozer was even in Adrano was impressive, yet these sturdy machines were rapidly becoming as essential a piece of Allied equipment as any tank, truck or artillery piece, such was the level of destruction being caused. Quite simply, without bulldozers there could be no advance. They pushed on again in the heat, stopping repeatedly because of craters in the road. Here the country was much closer, the wide-open valleys of the island’s centre long gone. It was greener, too, a place of myriad groves and vineyards, but still more winding, narrow roads. Pettit spent much of his time wondering where on earth they were going to place their guns. ‘This is,’ he lamented, ‘the most awful artillery country.’ Which was a problem when the Allied way of war so heavily depended upon it; but such was the gunner’s exhausting, stressful and exceptionally demanding lot. No wonder that at times, this highly mechanized army appeared to take its time. In fact, given the circumstances and the conditions in which they found themselves, they were progressing with extraordinary speed. Sicily 1943 - James Holland

A quite interesting book depicting the Sicilian campaign and ensuing evacuation from the viewpoint of air warfare is Gerd Gaisers "Die sterbende Jagd" (The Dying Hunt). It illustrates the pretty much hopeless fight of German fighters against impossible odds.

Breathless narration 😀👍💯

I find it difficult to concentrate while wondering why you appear to be wearing a vest over a vest. 😂

Always wondered way the allies don’t do more to stop the withdraw from Sicily. Thanks for the explanation.

This is the greatest channel.

Great history vid

Ah yes, the infamous picture of the crying Hitler youth soldier from the movie Die Brücke. What's next, a picture of Bruno Ganz with a funny stache?

How do I become Army member of the week, do I need to pay a higher set level longer? I have been a member of the Army since the start of the Patreon, week 1 at the private to PFC level only going down during the month and half after the company I worked for went out of business (I got a new job again now working in the online gambling industry). During that time I stopped supporting all the patreon channels I support except for you guys because I believe the work you guys do is so good and important. I wish I could afford to support you guys more but can't. I do my best to recruit as many people to your army as possible though (and know I have recruited at least 6 people to the army). Whenever anyone asks me what RU-vid channels I like to watch you guys are the first I name and I tell anyone with any interest in history they should be watching your channel. I hope you guys are not mad at me for having different opinions then you guys on very few topics on WW2 such as the Allied bombing campaign (I have even refrained from disagreeing with you guys on that topic in recent past weeks episodes such as the fire bombing of Hamburg episodes). I post on your videos weekly and am agreeing with you on 99% of your videos and defending you guys in the comments against the people who work to attack the work you guys do all the time.

Thanks!

First rule of nuclear bomb club, dont talk about the nuclear bomb (to others)

If he's having a Downfall all he has to do is wait for Steiner to counterattack

11:49 Matt LeBlanc cameo. Good Easter egg there. Thanks, Indy.

a wonderful coverage

Yes, in the last minute of episode 207 you have excellently summed up why Hitler's Germany initially enjoyed spectacular success with gung ho aggression over basically unprepared adversaries. But as Germany's (and Japan's) adversaries got more and more experienced and numerous so this advantage became more and more a disadvantage. Both Hitler and Tojo thought that their nations enjoyed an inherent racial superiority over their opponents and that would inexorably lead them to victory.

ETNA BATTLES (1) After the fall of Mussolini, Kesselring had visited Badoglio, who assured the field marshal he had had nothing to do with the coup and had known nothing about it, but had felt honour bound to answer the call when the King had asked him to take up the reins. This, of course, was a whopping lie. He fully intended to continue the alliance, he told Kesselring - which, curiously enough, wasn’t quite the fib it at first seemed. The German C-in-C South then visited Ambrosio, still head of the Comando Supremo, who, like Badoglio, stressed Italy’s determination to continue fighting. On the basis of these meetings, he then reported to Hitler and the OKW that he believed the professed Italian intentions were sincere and thought it would be a mistake to pursue the plot to capture the Italian leadership in Rome, as the Führer had vowed to do. However, he also reckoned German troops would be able to occupy and hold Italy and the Balkans if sufficient numbers were sent in. The 3. Panzer Grenadier Division was already in Italy, and, as it happened, the 2. Fallschirmjäger Division had now arrived as well, ready to help carry out the planned coup; Kesselring had explained away their presence as reinforcements for Sicily, which Badoglio and Ambrosio accepted. Nor did the Italians appear to object in principle to German units moving into the north of Italy to protect the southern flank of the Reich and the Alpine passes. On 28 July, the plan for the immediate capture of the King and the Italian leadership was dropped, in part because of Kesselring’s report, in part because Jodl was strongly against it, and largely because by that time Hitler had calmed down a little after his initial fury and accepted that a longer game needed to be played with the Italians. Kesselring visited him in person on 29 July, and the Führer and OKW agreed instead to try to keep the alliance going for as long as possible, certainly until they were ready to carry out Operation ALARICH - now renamed, with brilliant irony, ACHSE, or AXIS in English - which would see German troops sweep in, swiftly disarm the entire Italian military and occupy the country by force. Rounding up the King and the Italian leadership would be part and parcel of this operation. This meant no sudden and hurried evacuation of Sicily lest it alarm the Italian leadership. Even so, Kesselring knew his men had to be prepared; there were now significant numbers of German troops on the island, and they were not to be lost as their compatriots had been in Tunisia. Evacuation plans needed to begin, and on 28 July Hube had ordered Oberst Hans-Günther Baade to start making a viable and efficient plan to get as many German troops out of Sicily as possible. Whether it was a matter of days or weeks, when the time came the Germans needed to be ready to act, and act fast. Initially, Kesselring rather hastily told Hitler that German forces would be sent across the Straits of Messina over three nights. On 2 August, however, Hube submitted a different plan, code-named Operation LEHRGANG, which was based on an evacuation over five nights. A measured, efficient five-night crossing, Hube believed, would give his troops a much better chance of successfully getting off the island with as much equipment as possible; three nights was simply too rushed and, he believed, not necessary. Geography and infrastructure greatly favoured his exit plan, because the narrowing of the Messina peninsula allowed him to create ever shorter defensive lines. As his men fell back, so fewer troops would be needed to maintain each narrower line, which would allow the bulk of his forces to get across the Straits before the last line was overrun. The Allies could pound their positions with as many aircraft as they liked, but Baade was already assembling an astonishingly large number of anti-aircraft and other guns either side of the Straits, while the narrowing of the peninsula and the limited road network would constrain the numbers of ground troops the Allies could throw at them. Keeping a cool head in the days to come was going to be vital, and Hube had one of the coolest around; he wasn’t Der Mann for nothing. By the evening of 5 August, however, Hube had realized that the Etna Line had been smashed wide open. The loss of Centuripe, the pressure on Adrano and Paterno, and the battering 15. Panzer Grenadier had taken at Troina had persuaded him the time had come to pull back to the next defensive line, and the last one that ran south of Etna - what Guzzoni had termed the Tortorici Line. It meant abandoning all those towns, and, at last, Catania too, but uppermost in his mind was the need to ensure that his units were not surrounded, cut off and taken prisoner; the moment one part of the line crumbled, the risk of that happening became just too great. Maintaining balance, and pulling back with as much cohesion as possible, was vital. Meanwhile, on 31 July, Generale Guzzoni had received a directive from the Comando Supremo in Rome telling him to hand over all remaining Italian troops on Sicily to the command of Hube and XIV Panzer Korps. In truth, Hube had barely paid him lip service since arriving on the island, but at midday on 1 August Guzzoni formally relinquished the reins; he still maintained his Sixth Army headquarters, however, feeling that, until ordered to the contrary, he had to remain at his post, no matter how impotently. The withdrawal of Guzzoni’s authority rather left von Senger twiddling his thumbs as well - although he too remained on Sicily, pending any instructions to the contrary. At this point he was encamped in a wood high in the mountains halfway between the northern slopes of Etna and Milazzo on the north-east coast. This ensured he was close to Hube and Guzzoni but also within easy reach of Baade, who visited him frequently to talk through his evacuation plans and get his advice. ‘Both of us had the feeling of having left the stage,’ wrote von Senger, ‘in order - as Baade expressed it - to watch this cosmic event from the box.’ Even up there, though, von Senger was hardly safe; every time he drove anywhere, he was at risk of attack by Allied aircraft. Then, in early August, he was forced to move his camp when an enemy plane was shot down and crashed into the trees nearby, setting them alight. Sicily 1943 - James Holland

It took me all day but I got through the video... it was a busy day. Yall are clearly working hard as well.

This show is the Bees Knees... love it

Small side note about the most decorated US soldier of world war 2: Audie Murphy he never made a proper landing in World War 2, Him and company were supposed two make that second landing in Sicily was scrapped, his company was supposed to be pulled from the line and get replacements and equipment repairs but the company that was to replace them was sent instead. So he just sat in his foxhole eating grapes and watching the artillery shelling the hills in front of him!!!! In his own words "I had a new respect for grapes after that, because I was running to the latrine every 15 minutes for 2 days" It's in his book To Hell and Back!!!!